Canines and primates with tails are generally not the best of friends, but these delegates from the animal kingdom now have an implicit bond, sort of, thanks to a partnership between Pet Supplies Plus and Elmwood Park Zoo.

Bath time for Fido was pretty much a win-win scenario for everybody involved when the Blue Bell shop donated half the profits from its self-service dog wash to the zoo during the month of March.

The dogs and their owners really soaked up the opportunity to raise money for the zoo’s upcoming squirrel monkey exhibit, according to Pet Supplies Plus manager Mark Grunwald.

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“If people know the money is going to a specific thing they’re more likely to want to get involved, than just thinking it’s going to go into a general pot to pay somebody’s salary or whatever,” Grunwald said.

The cost of the automated dog wash runs $8, with an additional 10 minutes available for a couple of bucks more.

Eighty six washes yielded more than $300 for the squirrel monkey cause.

The unique pet shop feature has been attracting more and more customers since the store opened last December, Grunwald said.

“As the weather gets nicer, people will come straight from the park and the dogs are covered in mud and they’ll want the dog cleaned before they go home. It’s really catching on. We have people who come on a weekly basis to wash their dogs.”

The Pets Plus-Elmwood alliance sprouted from a longtime friendship between Grunwald and Elmwood Zoo general curator Dave Wood.

“Dave’s wife worked at the Philadelphia Zoo and my wife still works there. So we’ve all known each other for 15 or more years,” Grunwald said. “He’s the first person I contacted at the zoo about working together. They seem to be really happy about it and we like to be involved in the community, so I’m sure we’re going to do some more things in the future.”

The squirrel monkeys, who are natives of the tropical forests of Central and South America, have already arrived at Elmwood Zoo but will be under quarantine until their quarters are ready, noted Wood.

“The dog wash was a help, but it won’t over the total cost,” said Wood, who estimated the building would cost $8,000 to $10,000.

The Gap-based Amish firm Old Mill Construction recently completed work on the structure, Wood added.

“They built the deck for the new giraffe exhibit we’re putting in and we liked their work so much we asked them to give us a price for the squirrel monkey exhibit.”

The original plan was for Wood and the maintenance guys to build the exhibit themselves, but Wood was so impressed by the Amish men’s reasonable estimate they got the job.

“They put the building up in 13 hours,” he said, laughing. “Now the big expense will be a glass window we’re putting in. This is the first time we’ve had squirrel monkeys on exhibit. We’ve got to keep doing new things so that when people come every year they see something new.”

Wood hopes to have the monkeys properly showcased by Memorial Day.

Pet Supplies Plus is located at The Shops at Blue Bell, 1726 DeKalb Pike, Blue Bell.